(meteorobs) Meteor or Iridium Flare

[Marco Langbroek]

Op 27-12-2009 20:29, Mike Hankey schreef:
> Hello Observers,
>
> During the Ursids meteor shower I imaged what I thought to be two
> sporadic meteors.
>
> After closer inspection I'm thinking one of them might be an iridium flare.
>
> I checked the calsky site and the Cosmos 2455 satellite was close to
> the same AZ but the altitude was way off.  (I don't think Cosmos 2455
> can make iridium flares)
>
> I posted the images here:
>
> http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/comets/two-sporadic-meteors/
>
> What do you think meteors or satellites?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike


Hi Mike,

Note that many more satellites besides the Iridium satellites can produce bright 
flares.

Your second picture does indeed look more like a flaring satellite than a meteor 
to me. With exact data on your observatory location and time of observation 
(preferably to better than a minute) and RA/declination of a point on the trail 
belonging to that time refernece, I might do an identification for you.

- Marco

-----
Dr Marco Langbroek  -  SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands.
e-mail: sattrackcam at wanadoo.nl

Cospar 4353 (Leiden):   52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL
Cospar 4354 (De Wilck): 52.11685 N, 4.56016 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL
SatTrackCam: http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek/satcam.html
Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
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